Linger in the Ashes

Dear Erica. 1987-2011

Today I'm holding space and sitting in the ashes as I remember Christ's suffering and the suffering of a dear one that ended two years ago today. And the suffering that lingers for those that knew and loved her. 

I know the end of both stories...I know the hope that peeks just around the corner...but for today I embrace the suffering and the pain and the loss and I will not rush through it. 

The suffering matters. It is real and it MEANS something. And I will give it the time and space it requires. 

Allow yourself time to linger in the suffering experienced on and around the cross today. And if you are experiencing suffering of any kind...allow yourself to linger in it. And if you know of someone suffering today in anyway...linger with them. Quietly, without words of advice or encouragement. Just feel their suffering with them and sit in the ashes alongside them. 

I'll be in the ashes with some of the dearest ones of my heart today. And there Christ will be also.

Amen.

In Which Mrs. Ford is Honored on the Occasion of her Birthday

Mrs. Ford will be the first to tell you that I'm terrible about writing Birthday Cards. I'm terribly inconsistent. Especially when compared to Mrs. Ford herself, who is easily in the top 5 card writers of all time (and one of my favorite writers of all, as a matter of fact).

But I digress. The point of this isn't to laud her note-writing prowess. Rather, this is to serve as her Birthday Card and a public declaration of my love and admiration for my wife.

My wife is, in all ways, a Woman of Valor.

She is brave.
She is strong.
She'll fight for what she believes and for what she needs.

This has been true since we first started dating, so many years ago. She knew what she wanted in a man, knew what she deserved and knew what I was capable of. She didn't let me get away with less when she knew I could do more, even when I didn't know it myself.

She has entered into each new phase of our life and relationship with this certainty and this bravery. She knew we would be okay, knew that God had our backs and knew that we would figure it out together. She's always been right.

That's not to say that she's never doubted or had questions. But therein lies the true courage, the truly valiant heart. When she has questions or is scared, she is unafraid to express it. She is bold in her outpouring of emotion. She cries without fear of being judged or dismissed. She has a tender heart and is unafraid to bare it to the world.

I know that I wouldn't be able to be the man I am today if it weren't for this amazing Eshet Chayil standing by my side and there's nobody I'd rather brave the dangers of the world with than her.

Side by side, hand in hand, mind to mind and heart to heart we face the world and the path God has laid out before us.

Happy Birthday, babe. I love you.

Your Mr. Ford